Spiritual Awareness

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Local airplanes are pretty expensive if you buy it online yourself. The price also does not include meals; a small snack would cost as much as a proper lunch in a standard Western restaurant. It might be smart to bring your own snack with you.

·Trains

A good value for your money. The disadvantage is that it’s not easy to get tickets. For long-distance trips, you must book a ticket in advance. You might encounter fraud at the railway stations (I have heard about this, but have not been in such a situation myself.).

After getting your SIM card, you can subscribe to the travel website MakeMyTrip and try your hand at booking a
train/flight ticket from there.

If you bought a ticket with a sleeping berth, you will
get bed linen in the train.

·Buses

Advantages of a bus: cheap, relatively easy to get a ticket. The main disadvantage is that travel agents sell overpriced tickets to foreigners and the bus
you will get is not necessarily in the best shape. Also, a trip in a bus at
night is less comfortable than in a train. However, some busses are designed to
provide sleeping places, just like in a train. There are even double beds in
some of them. That makes your trip more comfortable. There is no any bed linen
in there, so it’s advisable to take your own pillowcase and a sheet from home.
Sometimes an additional payment is required for luggage. You won’t get a
receipt for that, so write down in your notebook how many pieces of luggage you
have and ask the loader to sign it. Normally they will do this without
protesting.

In cities:

·Taxi: The cars are national and international brands;
most have air conditioning. Not cheap. Drivers use a navigation system via
smart phones.

·Tuk-tuks

Tuk-tuks are exotic; natural ventilation because
there are no windows and doors. The drivers do not have a navigation system, so
for your own convenience you must have a printed map with a clear address and
telephone number for your destination. Ask your hotel in advance for tuk-tuk
prices from the railway station.

·Rickshaws

Rickshaws are good if you are shopping in
the bazaars or for very short trips; however, their recommendations might be
very subjective; they could advice to you the shops of their friends or
relatives. Normally illiterate.

Tips for local trips in the city:

·Agree on the price before getting in the
vehicle.

·Take a small notebook with you. That will be
useful not only for making notes but also for writing a negotiated price for
your trip by taxi, rickshaw or tuk-tuk driver. Write it in front of the service
provider; this will be proof of your agreement with him. Otherwise, your driver
might quote a different price at the end of the trip,
which happens quite often.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

oWhen
planning your trip to India, be aware that in some places, travel during
certain months should be avoided.

oFor
example, in New Delhi from May to June, the temperature can reach +50 C (+122
F) and you’d feel uncomfortable going anywhere outside your hotel.

oJuly
and August are months with heavy rain, which can make it inconvenient to
explore India.

Average temperature in India

·Vaccinations

oAbout
one month before your trip to India (or earlier), get in touch with a
vaccination specialist in your local health center. At that time, you must have
your travel plans ready. The doctor will ask which places in India you are
planning to visit. That is necessary for you to get the right vaccinations and
prevent unnecessary ones. For example, in some
areas at certain times of the year, the threat of malaria exists. However, if you are not going to
those areas or if you will be there during the “low” season for the anopheles
mosquito, you might not need that vaccination.

·Clothing

oIndia
is a highly religious country. You won’t see any Indian (man or woman) wearing tight
shorts, mini skirts or transparent clothing. My advice is to wear clothing that
aligns with local habits and that is comfortable for traveling. Take a
long-sleeve cotton blouse, a couple of T-shirts, loose trousers, bermuda shorts
covering your knees and comfortable walking shoes. Due to pollution, try to
avoid white; otherwise you must wash your clothes each time you wear them.

oYou
can also buy great coloured pants and blouses at the local bazaars. Shopping
there is a lot of fun!

Outfit in India

oSunglasses
and hat

·Other things

oTorch.
The sunset in Delhi is around 6 pm and total darkness arrives quickly. The
streets and roads are poorly illuminated and you are at risk of getting hit by
whatever comes your way.

oReflectors.
If you think you will be hanging out outside at night, you might consider pinning
a light reflector on your backpack or clothing.

Reflectors

oUmbrella.
To protect against the rain and/or sun.

Miscellaneous

oElectric
water kettle. If you have space in your luggage, you might consider taking a
small, simple kettle and making your own tea whenever you want.

oLuggage.
There are no elevators in the train stations and there are long stairs you must
use to reach your platform. I have learned that a backpack is the best option
for long-term traveling in India. Before my trip, I bought two pieces, which I
can use together or separately, as well as a cover to protect against dirt and
rain (which I recommend) and I was happy with my preparation. The larger suitcase
does not weigh down your shoulders; the weight goes on your hips and you can
carry it for at least some time without problems.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

New Delhi (about 350, 000
residents) is the Indian capital and a territory of Delhi (about 22.2 million
people).

I have evaluated different options
for overnight stays in New Delhi and Delhi, and each time I ended up staying in
hostels for foreign tourists. The reason was that they were the best option in
terms of value, convenience and fun.

International hotel chains, which are
supposed to be priced conveniently due to the heavy competition in the market,
are overpriced in the Delhi area. National chains and small hotels do not
provide any trust.

You can find decent-looking rooms
and apartments on the Airbnb website.

Airbnb in India

A decent accommodation will be priced per
the Western standard; that would be OK if the host could provide travel
guidelines for reaching the destination by public transportation; however, instead,
an Indian host will offer a relatively expensive car ride from and to the airport,
which makes the total cost two-and-a-half to three times higher than the
initial price of the room. In addition, they do not provide information about attractions
or activities close to their properties, which, again, creates a sense of
dependency on their transportation and their price list for driving services.

Couchsurfing is a good place for
getting missing information about your travel plans, but perhaps not for accommodation.

For example, I got information
about Vipassana meditation from this site; many thanks for that to Couchsurfing’s
founders and to the girl who was spreading the word!

Talking about Indian Couchsurfers …
announcing your trip on the bulletin board will attract hundreds of Indian
Couchsurfers. Most of them do not a verified profile, proper photos or
references. Quite a few people hang out there to advertise their services, and
some can give you great advice about getting the best from your travels
(experience based on the year 2016).

Typical verification profile of Indian CS

So, where should you sleep in Delhi
to get the best value for your money?

Run by enthusiastic young
entrepreneurs, the hostel offers a great deal for national and especially
international travelers. It’s a great place to kick off your travels in India. The
hostel can provide you with great instructions for finding it and for using the
taxi, subway or tuk-tuk. It can also book a non-expensive Uber for you, as well
as help with luggage, booking tickets, etc.

Madpackers reception area

There are a few private rooms and
several dorm rooms available in Madpackers on two floors. An Indian veggie breakfast
is included in the price. You can perform your morning exercise or yoga on the
roof of the building.

Most important, you’ll meet a lot
of travelers from all over the world who are eager to share their experiences
in India; you can find a lot of inspiration for your journey as well great
company for your travels.

Checking-in

One of my favorite “features” of
this hostel is its sightseeing tours. The hostel organizes various economically
priced excursions every day; the Indian guide will show you the best places in
the city to buy souvenirs, enjoy the Indian fairytales show, eat, participate
in events, etc.

Drawing on Madpackers' wall

Madpackers will also help you with
advice for traveling, booking a train/bus/air ticket, getting an inexpensive
taxi (Uber), etc.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Before getting into “my list” of
spiritual places I have visited, I will provide a short introduction to New
Delhi, the capital of India.

New Delhi

All
roads in India go to New Delhi, the city where most people probably land.

Indira Gandhi airport

You are arriving at the Indira Gandhi
International Airport. It’s a relatively new airport, organized like any major
airport in Europe or the USA.

After getting your luggage, you will
go to passport control. There are no
extra security procedures, such as fingerprints or head-shot photos, so it
should go pretty fast.

New Delhi airport

There will be frequent money exchange points on your way,
starting from the “luggage hall” and continuing in the arriving hall of the
airport. You will need cash to pay for a taxi or metro, so you must exchange
some money. As in any other city in the world, the rate of exchange in the
airport is not the best compared to the options outside, so I would advise you
to not exchange here all the cash you have brought with you.

Telecommunication

Communication is extremely
important in India. People widely use mobile phones and even the rickshaw driver
will have a cellular phone in his hand. A SIM
card is recommended, especially if you will be staying in India for several
weeks or months. For example, having a telephone number will give you an
advantage when booking train or airline
tickets online, which will help you save time and avoid stress.

I bought a prepaid SIM card with call and 3G mobile data in the airport. The
service there is fast and painless – you are getting an activated SIM card
after just a few minutes of waiting. The service providers know what they are
doing and are well prepared; for example, they have a camera to take your
headshot photograph if you don’t have a photo with you. They will open your
phone using the right tools. (For example, I had the latest model of the Samsung
Galaxy 7, which required a special key to open the cover, and they had that key.)

The best cellular operator in India
in autumn 2016 was AIRTEL (don’t confuse
this with AIRCEL, which has less coverage and lower quality). I bought the
lowest amount of call minutes and data, which cost around 15 euro (17 USD), and
that was more than enough for a two-month trip.

AIRCELL

From airport to city

The airport has a connection to the
city itself by a fast – and I’d even say luxurious – express train, which is smoothly connected to a modern subway. As an option, you can take a taxi from the airport, which might be
faster (not necessarily during rush hour), but will also be more expensive.
Both the express train and the taxi have air-conditioning systems.

Express train

As an
alternative, you can take tuk-tuk,
which is exotic and relatively cheap, but you might be surprised by the air
pollution. This is one of the reasons why I try to avoid tuk-tuks in big Indian
cities.

Tuk-tuk

Air pollution is a problem not only in Delhi, but also for all
bigger cities in India.

Traveling in the subway in Delhi is
easy and relatively inexpensive. For your convenience, print the New Delhi metro map in colorbefore your trip
and take it with you. The tokens for the metro are sold at the counter inside
the station. Please remember to save the
token until the end of your journey – you’ll need it at the exit point. There
are security checks like those at the
departure premises at the airport. They will scan you and your luggage. There
are isolated security check cabins for women.

New Delhi subway

The New Delhi subway is relatively
new and well-organized. The interval between arrival trains is just a few
minutes. The subway transports a huge number of people. Ninety-nine percent of metro
travelers are male and one percent (maybe even less) are female. I haven’t seen
a single child in the metro and mostly I was the only woman in a long underground
carriage. There are some emergency phone
numbers for females, and I would recommend saving them if you are a solo traveler.

Unjustly
convicted and imprisoned, Benjamin Barker returned to his native city. Led by
his irritated mind, he programmed himself for revenge and changed his name to Sweeney
Todd.

As
that, the protagonist, putting all his effort into vengeance, is not capable of
catching either hope for a brighter future or any opportunities in his new
life. His anger spreads and hurts innocent people.

Benjamin’s
mad mind pushes him to murder anyone who enters his barber shop. It doesn’t
matter who is in front of him. Whether it’s his offender (Judge Turpin) or anyone
else, his anger hits everyone.

Murdering
innocent people, Sweeney Todd continuously harms his own soul by absorbing
heavy, dark energies. He is steadily turning towards Darkness and shutting down
a new and brighter future not only for himself, but also for others, including
his teenage daughter and his new spouse.

The lesson learnt:

In
the Western world, revenge is an acceptable reaction to someone who has made
you unhappy. People fight against those who insult them because they think they
have lost their happiness due to an injustice enacted by the offender, not
because of their own imperfections. When an angry person hits back at his offender,
he makes the problem bigger, creating the same effect as pouring petrol into a
fire – the fire becomes larger and more dangerous.

The
Eastern world, experienced with spiritual wisdom and meditation practices,
teaches that instead of petrol, one should pour water into the fire, which
would extinguish it.

That
essentially means that if you have been offended, you must not only observe
your emotional state, but also keep your mind above the situation. A balanced
mind in this case can become a friend and won’t give anger a chance to push you
towards words or actions, which would badly affect your future.

Some
people might argue that they want to hit back at an offender because that
action would teach the offender a lesson. In addition, they would get the
personal satisfaction of the protection themselves. However, this is a reaction
of your ego; reality shows that hitting back does not make things better, only
worse.

Hatred
absorbs a lot of time and effort; you are shifting your focus from your life’s
goals to the distracting direction of revenge. You risk turning your life into
hell – irritation and anger as a chain reaction are jumping up from the
offender to the innocent one, hurting guiltless people only because they were
in the way.

The
worst thing happens on the deeper level of the subconscious – an uprising of
the karmic nodes. Each karmic node would require attention, if not in this
present life, in the next. You’re going to meet the same spiritual entity (a
person) again and again to solve the problem – to unleash the karmic node. This
involves extending your existence in the physical world and prolonging your
path to liberation.

Anger management by G. Budha:

One
person, who lived on the Earth about 2,600 years ago, invented a technique
helping people manage anger. As a matter of fact, that technique was a remedy
addressing any imperfection of the human mind, creating the chance for full enlightenment
and, consequently, providing a fast track to liberation from the physical
world. This person is best known as Buddha, but his real name was Siddhartha
Gautama.

Gautama
became fully enlightened at the age of 35 and, driven by compassion, helped
people until his death at the age of 80.

Buddha’s
meditation, known as the Vippasanna technique, helps balance and manage your
own mind. He invented the technique with the intention of removing imperfection
(= sins) and avoiding generating new ones.

For
example, going for revenge, a person would generate a new karmic node with each
offender. Each karmic node, as a heavy stone, would prevent him from climbing
up to the goal – liberation from physical reality.

Each
and every one of us, time after time, has faced a situation with a person who
has insulted us. Buddha was no exception – he also met offenders, but he could
transform negativity into positivity without hurting the offender, also gaining
extra psycho-energy for himself. In this article, I provide two examples of how
he did it. These examples I have heard are from the Vipassana meditation
course.

One
day, Buddha received a visitor. The man was very irritated. He told Gautama
that though he pretended to be a spiritual guru, he wasn’t because, according
to the man, a true yogi was supposed to have long hair, tiger fur and other accessories.

Buddha
said in a calm voice, “I do not accept your
present to me. Take it back and go home.”

The
offender wanted fire but left with empty hands because the fire died when
Gautama poured water on it. The offender had no other option than to turn back
and go home.

Another
case of anger management from the life of Buddha.

There
were some people who were jealous of Gautama’s fame and popularity. They
decided to damage his reputation.

They
sent a young, beautiful woman to his ashram, and she attended Buddha’s teaching.
Every morning the woman passed the people in the ashram and told them she had spent
another night with Gautama. Time passed and one day many important people
gathered in the Buddha’s ashram. The woman came also. It looked like she was
pregnant. She accused Gautama of being the father, using nasty words.
Buddha listened to her and said in a calm voice, “We both know the truth."
The woman became nervous; the wooden piece attached to her belly dropped out
and everyone saw that she had lied.

The
lesson: Keeping your mind in balance gives you a great advantage in a situation
when you face an offender who has the intention of making you unhappy. A
trained mind that focuses on positive decisions will help you figure out the
right solution for the problem you face.